Archbishop McCarrick to Ordain Auxiliary Bishop of Newark Monsignor Paul G. Bootkoski will be ordained an Auxiliary Bishop of Newark at 2 p.m. on Friday, September 5, 1997 at the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart located at the corner of Clifton Avenue and Park Avenue in Newark, New Jersey. Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick will preside over the episcopal ordination. Co-Consecrators will include Bishop John M. Smith of Trenton and Bishop Michael A. Saltarelli of Wilmington, Delaware, both former Auxiliary Bishops of the Archdiocese of Newark. Concelebrants will include John Cardinal O'Connor of New York, Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua of Philadelphia, and over 30 bishops and Archbishops from dioceses around the country. Special guests include Mayor Sharpe James of Newark and members of the Priory of Benedictine Monks from Weston, Vermont, who will lead the assembly in singing one of the Communion hymns during the Mass. Monsignor Bootkoski's appointment was announced by Pope John Paul II on the morning of Tuesday, July 8, 1997. During a press conference, Archbishop McCarrick said, "In naming Monsignor Paul Bootkoski Auxiliary Bishop of Newark, the Holy Father has . . . raised to the episcopacy a good and holy pastor of souls and a man well respected by his brother priests and the faithful of this local church. . . .As pastor, as university official, as director of Campus Ministry and as Vicar for Priests, [Monsignor Bootkoski] has been a faithful and devoted friend to all God's people." Bishop-elect Bootkoski responded to the Holy Father's appointment by saying, "I am humbled and honored to have been called to be a bishop by Pope John Paul II. I am thankful for for the trust and faith of Archbishop McCarrick. I have happily served the Church of Newark in my priestly life and pledge to continue to serve the Lord in this local Church." Monsignor Bootkoski was born in Newark on July 4, 1940, to Peter Bootkoski, deceased 1985, and Antoinette (Klimek) Bootkoski, 82, of Westwood. He has one sister, Annette Wagner, 50, of River Vale, NJ. He knew he wanted to be a priest at a very young age, according to his family, and they supported him throughout the discernment process. "It was always meant to be," said his mother. "It was God's will." Monsignor Bootkoski attended Queen of Peace Grammar School in North Arlington, St. Benedict's Prep in Newark and Seton Hall University. He studied for the priesthood at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Darlington, NJ, and was ordained a priest by Archbishop Thomas A. Boland on May 28, 1966. After ordination, Father Bootkoski served as a Parochial Vicar at Sacred Heart Church, Bloomfield. He also served in similar positions at Holy Spirit Church in Orange and St. Michael's in Cranford. In 1972 he was assigned to campus ministry and became Director of Campus Ministry in 1974. In 1980 he was named Assistant Vice-President for Student Affairs at Seton Hall University. In 1983 he was appointed pastor of St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Elizabeth. Archbishop McCarrick appointed Father Bootkoski as pastor of St. Gabriel, Saddle River, in 1990. Pope John Paul II named him a Monsignor in 1991. In July of 1996, Monsignor Bootkoski became the Vicar for Priests in the Archdiocese.
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